As Old as Her Tongue and a Bit Older than Her Teeth: A Pragmatic Approach to LeeElle's Birthday - By John Tullis

One's birthday is the day that one should get the gift one has been wanting all year. LeeElle is always telling me I should blog. I always tell her that I would really like to, and then I laugh. But I decided it could make a good birthday present. If there is one thing I've learned while being married, it is that you should withhold from your spouse the things they really want, just until they want it so badly that they can't take it anymore, and then give it to them as a gift on a special occasion. Your spouse will think you are so thoughtful.

Last year on my birthday LeeElle posted 26 things about me. It is my turn to return the favor by telling you about LeeElle and things that are important to her. LeeElle really loves me. I am probably the most important thing/person in her life. I am tall and have blue eyes. I am finishing my second year of law school and it has been a lot of work. I like to play guitar and write songs and play in a band. (LeeElle may have posted some of this information already, but since it's her birthday we shoud humor her and learn more about what she loves). This year I made a goal to be more charming. I think that the most important characteristic of a charming person is his or her ability to wink. Once I am able to properly wink I will be thoroughly charming. Here is the latest in my winking progress.

Quick Note. My first attempt at blogging almost became my last attempt when my computer froze and I realized I hadn't saved what I had written. Because I love LeeElle I still would have posted, but I probably never would have ventured into the blogging world again. Thank blog for autosave. Now back to my winking progress.

Here I am preparing for the wink. You can see on my face it's going to be a good one.

Here I am mid wink. I apologize now to all the husbands whose wives leave them because of this photo. Now that I've become so charming its almost impossible to turn it off or even tone it down. For the final stage of the wink please scroll back up to the above photo; I'm not a blog wiz so I am having some difficulty adding photos and moving them around.

This is me when I was a winking novice, and obviously much less charming. That seems like so long ago. I can't even remember the date that picture was taken.

So there it is. Happy birthday Lelly. I think everyone can agree that we know and understand you a lot better than we used to.

I guess to wrap this up I could add 26 things about LeeElle.

1. She has a beautiful singing voice
2. She can sight read piano music like nobody's business
3. She knows all the words to the Music Man song "Ya Got Trouble" (and many other songs from musicals, but that is the most impressive. Ask her to sing it next time you see her. Or call her and ask her to sing it. For now let this pique your interest)
   
   
4. She is a blogoholic (If only I could find where she keeps her blogohol....)
5. She is a college professor
6. She is part of a genetics research team
7. She is very patient
8. She is very good with children, as demonstrated by how well she has raised me
9. She is an amazing sign language interpreter (that's what I'm told anyway; by people other than her)
10. Her dream is for me to make a lot of money so that she can spend her days in women's lunch groups eating small sandwiches cut into triangles
11. She once set a goal to get her body weight down to 7lbs. She gave up when she realized her head alone weighs about 15lbs, give or take.
12. If you ever need an opinion, she's your girl.
13. She has the most amazing dance skillz I have ever seen (you know its true because I never use a "z" in the place of an "s" unless I am serious). Ask her to dance to Outkast sometime, you won't be disapointed.
14. She was once asked to be Belle at Disneyland, but turned it down because they were only going to pay her $75,000 a year.
15. She is very competitive, interestingly enough she is more competitive when playing air hockey than any other sport.
16. She played waterpolo in highschool and was scouted by UCLA but decided not to go because they only offered her a full ride scholarship and $75,000 a year. (I've heard of starving students but come on UCLA)
17. Because she didn't go to UCLA she ended up at BYU where we met. Thank you UCLA for being so stingy.
18. She is able to talk more than anyone I have ever met
19. She has recently become a voracious reader, which gives her more to talk about.
20. She loves dessert and even has a dessert stomach so that if her regular stomach becomes full she still has room for dessert.
21. She has been asked to model 3 times in her life (she's only accepted once).
22. She was funny when I met her and has become increasingly so.
23. She loves the beach/swimming/being in the water; for her it is not a vacation unless she gets to bring her bathing suit.
24. One time at a school assembly she went to the front to get an award when she heard her name read. When she got to the front there was no award for her; turns out they had called Miguel, not LeeElle.
25. Her birthday is shared with the day in 1901 when New York became the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates. (She also shares a birthday with Renee Zellweger, her arch nemesis.)
26. She makes me the happiest boy in the world.

Happy Birthday LeeElle. Now everyone do the right thing and leave a comment for her telling her how great you think she is.